Popular and Recognized Style Guides for Technical Writing.

Style guides are particularly important in technical writing projects. Where technical writing is undertaken in a large team or project, it is important that
the finished documentation is devoid of any one individual's discernible personal style. A style guide is just one of the tools that can be used to help achieve this along with the use of specific standards.

While no style guide can be comprehensive, there are some popular and recognized style guides, which are adhered to by the technical writers the world over.

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is the definitive reference tool for anything to do with preparing technical documents. Published by the University of Chicago Press, it has been around since 1906 and is currently in its 15th edition. The book contains hundreds of rules of grammar, punctuation, and capitalization and answers almost every question you have about document designs. It provides clear, practical, and easily applied rules and helps authors and editors achieve consistency in practice when creating or editing a manuscript and presenting it to readers.

The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications (MSTP) is a style guide published by Microsoft. Like any style guide, the MSTP establishes standards and serves as a reference for writers. It has the specific purpose of guiding technical writers, editors, and content managers working with Microsoft products. While the manual in some parts focuses on usage particular to these products, the guide also serves as a general tool for the technical writers. Content ranges from specific instructions for naming particular elements of specific programs to general rules of grammar. The MSTP can be referred for the correct terminology for anything to do with computers and graphical user interfaces.